Ever since Disney introduced pin trading to the Walt Disney World theme parks in order to celebrate the changing of the Millennium, pin trading has become one of the main reasons that some collectors look forward to visiting the parks. It's a fun way of interacting with both cast members and other park guests and if you are heading to one of the theme parks by yourself, it is an excellent way to strike up conversation and meet some new friends.
The Walt Disney World Resort has pin trading stations and kiosks located at each of the parks, with the largest locations, titled Pin Central, at Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney. A Pin Central location will often feature large gatherings of pin collectors showing off their albums of pins and doing some trading. Pin trading is also popular at Disneyland in California and at some of the international Disney theme parks as well, but you'll find the bulk of the action in Orlando and Anaheim.
If you're new to pin trading and aren't comfortable approaching other guests to ask if they'd like to trade with you, it's best to start trading with Disney cast members. All of the Disney employees who have pins to trade will be wearing a lanyard with pins around their neck or they will be wearing them on a "hip lanyard". To make pin trading more fun for kids, Disney has recently introduced various colors of lanyards to indicate that some cast members will only be trading with children ages 3-12. In Walt Disney World, this lanyard is green and at Disneyland it is teal. So you'll need to be under 12 years old to trade pins with a cast member wearing one of these lanyards. Adult guests are free to trade with cast members wearing any other color lanyard.
Disney has also released a guide to pin trading etiquette, but most of the rules are common sense and courtesy. For instance, if a cast member is busy with another guest, you'll need to wait your turn. You shouldn't remove or even touch a pin worn by a cast member. They will always hold the lanyard away from their body so you can look at them all and then you simply tell them which one you would like to trade and they will remove it for you. All pins are traded hand to hand. These rules are best followed when trading with other guest as well, since many people will actually be wearing their pins and it helps avoid misunderstandings. If you are trading with a guest who has an album instead of a lanyard, it is always polite to ask first before handling the pins and make sure your hands are clean! It's also worth noting that you are not obligated to trade. It's perfectly fine to just look at someone else's pins without conducting a trade!
While cast members are required to participate in pin trading with guests, Disney has set up rules as well to avoid some of the abuses that took place when the pin trading frenzy commenced several years ago -- this means that all pins traded must be the correct style -- a Disney-issued pin made out of metal. Pins with names on them cannot be traded with a cast member and they won't be able to trade duplicate pins either. So if a cast member is already wearing a pin that you want to give them, you'll need to select a different pin from your stash. If you decide to purchase pins before visiting the parks, solely for trading, then it is a good idea to make sure they are all unique. In addition, you can only trade with each cast member twice. But don't worry about that as there are many pin-trading cast members in the parks and all of the cast members at the pin stations and kiosks will be wearing lanyards so they can trade with you.
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